Potter Goes Forth
by Merlin E-F
Summary: The adventure of Potter.Continued on from Book 7 Deathly Hallows, spoilers are included for obvious reasons, but have been kept out of this summary. Features action, romance, drama and much more.


**A/N: This is my first story, so I am fairly new at this. Be gentle. All of the characters mentioned within that appear in the Harry Potter series, belong exclusively to J.K. Rowling. I am merely toying with them to see what response I get. **

**I would like to thank my new beta-reader/writer, Ella Mare, for her non-stop advice and support. This story would not be possible without her help and endless supply of inspiration. I must stress the fact that all mistakes are completely my own. Don't blame Ella.**

**Read on, I hope you enjoy and I beg you to leave feedback for me. I need to know whether it is worth continuing with the story.**

**Without further ado, I give you…Chapter One…**

**Chapter One: Departures and Arrivals**

As the Hogwarts Express was pulling out of the station, Albus poked his head out of the window to wave off his mum, dad and little sister. He could still see the tears in Lily's eyes as she ran the length of the platform with the train, shouting her goodbyes. He blew her a kiss as he watched his family slide into the distance, before pulling his head back into the compartment. This was his first time on the Hogwarts Express and his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. To say he was nervous was the understatement of the century, for he was absolutely terrified. Thoughts raced through his head of the things he had heard about the famous school, and he remembered vividly his brother's description of it.

"Tall, dark, and full of horrible things to those who don't know where to look!"

Albus sighed. He loved James very much, but he had no idea what it was like to fear. He was brainy, confident, and brave and was never troubled by a new experience. Albus however was quite the opposite. Unlike James, he took a while to think things over before deciding whether it was worth acting upon, and if it was, he would look for a peaceful, risk-free way around the problem in order to find the solution. But when it came to something new…that was different. He had a habit of shying away from things like that, and normally tried to avoid them at all costs. Hogwarts however could not be avoided. Although he knew that if he had asked his parents, they would teach him at home, Albus knew he would not be able to stand the taunts from his older brother. James had laughed at him for admitting he was nervous, and had not helped by saying there was a good chance he would end up in Slytherin, the most notorious of the four houses.

The rest of his family had been in Gryffindor, right through to his grandparents, and maybe even further than that, he did not know. His father was perhaps the most famous Gryffindor to ever set foot in Hogwarts, rivalling and even succeeding that of the late Albus Dumbledore in terms of fame, and second only to Godric Gryffindor himself. However this fame had come at a terrible price.

It had now been 35 years ago on Halloween when the darkest warlock of the century had murdered his grandparents, James and Lily Potter. He had then turned his wand upon his father, in order to thwart the wizard prophesised to overthrow him from his ascent to power and domination, not realising that a higher, more ancient power had been put into practise. Lily Potter had defended her son, and pleaded with the Dark Lord to spare his life. After begging for mercy and her refusal to allow harm to bestow the child, the wizard destroyed her, tearing her life away with a single flick of a wand, and in doing so, sealing his own destruction. The sacrifice of Lily Potter gave her child a protection no spell could create. The Dark Lord's killing curse that had wiped out countless lives, innocent and otherwise, failed and rebound upon its owner, tearing his soul from his body. Defeated, the Dark Lord fled, not to be seen again for many years, and Harry Potter became known as 'The Boy Who Lived'.

For years after that the wizarding world had lived in peace and harmony, working hard to rebuild the world they once knew. A world where people no longer lived in fear of their neighbours or of strangers. A world where peace reigned and was governed by a ministry. A world without a Dark Lord. And yet, despite his absence, fear still took hold of those who heard his name. For the most, he was known simply as 'You-Know-Who', and to the more sophisticated, 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named'. Few wizards referred to him by his self given pseudonym of 'Lord Voldemort' and fewer still by his birth-given name 'Tom Riddle'. Amongst these few was the legendary Albus Dumbledore, widely known throughout the wizarding community as the Greatest Headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen. It was a widely known fact that Voldemort had been afraid of Dumbledore, and with good reason too. Famous for his defeat of the Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald in 1945, his discovery of the 12 uses of dragon blood, his work on alchemy with Nicholas Flamel and his assistance with the Philosopher's Stone, his Order of Merlin First Class for Grand Sorcery, his position as both Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and founder of the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore was an excellent friend, but a perilous enemy. He had been offered the post of Minister for Magic on several occasions, but turned them down, stating politics was not for him.

Albus smiled to himself as he remembered where his name came from. He felt a sudden rush of pride to be named after such a great wizard, and one of whom his father spoke so highly of, for Dumbledore and Harry had been very close and had gone through a lot together. The same could be said for Severus Snape, whose forename was Albus's middle name. He recalled what his father had said about him on the platform:

"…he was probably the bravest man I ever knew."

This was still slightly confusing to Albus, as it had been Snape who had murdered Dumbledore at Hogwarts. His father had told him about this not too long ago. About how he and Snape had loathed each other, just as his own father had loathed him whilst they were students, and how for a long time they believed Snape to be evil and to be working for Lord Voldemort during his second uprising, despite Dumbledore's contradictions. It was still quite mixed up in Albus' mind, but he thought he got the general idea. Snape had pretended to work for Voldemort, whilst actually working for Dumbledore, but was forced to kill Dumbledore on Dumbledore's own orders in order to maintain the belief he was loyal to Voldemort whilst actually still loyal to Dumbledore who was trying to protect and aid Harry in his quest to destroy Voldemort.

Albus shook his head.

"Well all I know is I'm named after two great wizards and I am the son of an even greater wizard, and I will become a great wizard myself," he whispered to no one in particular.

"Who are you talking to Al?"

Albus spun round to face his cousin Rose

"Oh hi Rose. No one in particular. I was just thinking about Dad and what he told me about Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape and all those things."

"Oh yeah," replied Rose "Dad never shuts up about that. Whenever he feels like telling a story, it's always the same kind. The adventures of your dad, my mum, and himself. The famous trio."

Rose laughed quietly.

"Like we haven't got enough to worry about without having to live up to that too"

Albus smiled. "Oh I dunno. James is already at Hogwarts, I could let him do the living up for me. He's certainly got what it takes. Come on, let's find somewhere to sit."

He led the way through the carriages until they reached an empty compartment towards the end. Albus went in and sat closest to the window as Rose sat opposite him. He felt a shiver run through his body as he sat, not realising this was the selfsame seat his father had sat on on his first train journey to Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione. Rose also felt the shiver as she sat where her mother had sat on that same day.

Just as they were getting comfy there was a knock on the carriage door and a young boy poked his head round the door.

"Hey you two, I wondered where you got to. Mind if we join you?"

Underneath his head poked another face, this time belonging to a young girl.

"Yeah sure, come in." replied Albus.

Teddy and Victoire made their way in and sat down, Teddy next to Albus and Victoire next to Rose. Teddy Lupin was the son of Remus and Nymphadora Lupin, who had died in the final battle against Voldemort nineteen years ago. He had already left Hogwarts as he had completed his N.E.W.T's, but had decided to come back for two reasons. One was to study at a further degree, as he was hoping to become a teacher in Defence Against The Dark Arts, just as his father had done so many years ago. The second reason was still secret, or so he thought.

"So I heard James saw you two kissing earlier on," Albus said quite plainly as if commenting on the weather, "how long has this been going on?"

He smiled as Teddy's hair went a dark brown colour and grew to the length of his face, hiding his grin. Rose just broke out in a fit of giggles.

"Well we've been together a few weeks," Victoire mumbled, "but it feels like a lifetime."

"How so?" asked Rose curiously.

"Well, we just know each other so well. There are times we don't even need to speak to say what we want. We just…know it." Victoire blushed as she said it.

"Well I'm glad for you," said Albus earnestly.

Teddy finally changed back to his usual hairstyle and grinned, baring wolfish fangs. Although the look was not unpleasant, it was still a strange sight. A nineteen year old man with curly purple hair and fangs. This was the result of the reunion between his mother and father. His mother, once Nymphadora Tonks before her marriage to Remus, had been a metamorphagus, that is, she could change her appearance at will into pretty much anything she liked. His father however, had been a werewolf, bitten by the late and notorious Fenrir Greyback in his youth. Constantly rejected from society as a whole, Remus had found solitude in his best friends, James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, and together they had become the four Marauders of Hogwarts. It was this friendship that was the reason Teddy was so close to the Potter's and the Weasley's. It had been Harry Potter's father that had befriended his own, and it was Harry Potter himself who was his godfather, just as Sirius Black had been his. And any friend of the Potter's was a friend of the Weasley's. It's just how it worked. So Teddy had inherited traits from both his mother and father, although not to such extent as he lost his head every full moon and transformed painfully into a fully fledged werewolf. For some reason, the mixing of the metamorphagus and werewolf genes had caused a unique mutation to occur, creating a new gene altogether. This allowed him to become a werewolf every full moon, but also to keep his senses, and to transform into any animal form he desired, except human, without pain. So far he had experimented with a variety of animals, his favourite being the original werewolf form, followed shortly by the Gryffin. He could even become a centaur. One of his aims this year was to study the matter further in his free time, and to see whether he could become a combination on animals. In his own mind, he could not see a reason why he shouldn't be able to, for after all, a centaur was half man half horse, and a hippogriff was half eagle half horse, so why could there not be other combinations? Teddy was an eager experimenter.

The four heard the compartment door slide open and an elderly witch entered.

"Anything off the trolley dears?" she asked in a frail voice.

All four of them immediately sprang to their feet and started to exchange food for money. By the time they had finished, the trolley had only a few items left.

"Well Merlin's beard, you are a hungry bunch aren't you?" laughed the witch before departing.

Albus sat down and began to dig into some cauldron cakes just as the door slid open again. This time, it was a new face stood at the door. It had blonde hair and a curved nose and a sneer to match that of his fathers.

"Scorpius Malfoy," he said quietly, "You must be Potter and Weasley's kids. My father has told me about your parents. I don't know whether to believe half of it, but…"

He shrugged silently and stretched out his hand. "Pleased to meet you."

Albus took his hand and shook it slowly, not knowing what to think of this new character. His parents had warned him against his father, who had once been a Death Eater, a follower of Lord Voldemort. But this boy didn't seem made of the same mettle. He too seemed nervous about going to Hogwarts.

"Would you like to join us?" asked Rose in her sweet voice. Scorpius looked taken aback.

"I…I'd love to. Thank you."

Scorpius sat down next to Victoire as they started discussing the four houses, not noticing the darkening sky as the train sped on towards Hogwarts and their new home.

As the train pulled up in the station, they began to fumble for their luggage until a voice rang across the train, telling first years to leave their luggage and make their way out onto the platform. As they did so, a booming voice rang out over the crowd.

"Firs' Years this way! Come on now, don' be shy!"

They looked over to see the giant form of Rubeus Hagrid and his son Orion. Albus heaved a huge sigh as a thought passed through his head.

"_It begins…"_

He slowly made his way over to the half giant, following the others through the crowd. He could see Grawp in the distance waving merrily to everyone and laughed in spite of himself. It was going to be alright after all. They finally reached Hagrid, who was greeting all the familiar faces with a wave of his hand. He looked down and saw Albus and the others smiling up at him.

"Oh 'ello you lot! 'ows yer mums an' dads?" he asked whilst ruffling Teddy's hair.

"Geroff!" he laughed, "I'm not eleven now Hagrid."

"Aye, I know yer not, but yer still 5 foot smaller than me" said Hagrid, chuckling merrily. "Orion's givin' me an 'and wi' all you scruffy demons."

The figure next to Albus grinned and raised a hand. Orion was the only child of Rubeus and Olympe Hagrid, and was now 18 years old and in his final year of Hogwarts. He was built on the same lines as his parents and stood towering over everyone at 12 foot, even taller than his father. Hagrid smiled proudly at his boy, with a touch of envy in his eyes. He had been expelled from Hogwarts in his third year for a crime he did not commit, and wished every day that it had been different. Things had worked out though. Harry had pulled some strings for his old friend and had managed to get approval from the then-Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, to re-instate Hagrid as a wizard, and gave him permission to buy a new wand in which to practice magic with. Since then, Hagrid had attended the odd lecture or two a week from one of his colleagues in order to catch up with many lost years of education, and seemed to be coming along well.

Albus looked round as he heard someone pushing through the crowd and saw his brother appear looking up at Hagrid.

"Haven't you retired yet old man?" asked James humorously whilst giving Hagrid a small dig in the ribs.

"Yer cheeky beggar, no I 'avn't retired yet, and I don't mean to for a while! Still plenty of work in these old bones I'll 'ave you know." Hagrid tapped James on the head, causing his knees to buckle.

"Right, no more chit chat all o' ye, over to the boats now, come on! James, on yer way now"

James poked Albus as he ran past to join his friends who were already getting into the carriages, whilst Hagrid rounded up the first years.

He led the way down a sloping path to the edge of a vast lake where many boats lay tethered on the bay, before proclaiming there were to be no more than three to a boat. Albus, Rose and Scorpius all got into the boat next to Hagrid's and held on as they set of at a slow pace. As they rounded the corner, they could see the carriages being pulled by invisible animals over on the pathway, and Albus could just make out James carriage. He could tell this was his brothers, for rather than being inside it, James was sat on top of it making rude hand gestures at those in the boats. He turned to ignore his brother and as he did, he saw the vast castle looming out of the mist, with its many towers and turrets. Warm lights shone through the windows, welcoming the newcomers to their new school. There were many 'ooh's' and 'aahhh's' as they drew closer before finally passing under the cliff face beneath a wall of ivy and into a cave. The boats moored themselves and the students began to clamber out onto the rocky shore. Hagrid checked everyone was out before sending the boats back out the way they came, no doubt to some boathouse on the lake. He then went up to the huge wooden door and knocked three times. The booming sound echoed around them, causing bats to take flight nearby. Before the third echo had even died out, the door opened and there stood an elderly witch. A witch who had been a teacher at this school for many many years, and was now Headmistress. Her name was of course, Minerva McGonagall.

McGonagall surveyed the students from behind her half moon glasses and nodded curtly before standing aside and waving the students in. Once they were all in the magnificent chamber, she turned to address the newcomers in a thick Scottish accent.

"As of now, you are Hogwarts students. I bid you welcome. I am Professor McGonagall, Headmistress of this school. I must warn you now, violence will not be tolerated within Hogwarts, nor will theft and abuse of any kind. You have been warned. Now please wait here until the rest of the school is seated. I will send someone to accompany you into the Great Hall for sorting."

She nodded again and departed, leaving the children to talk amongst themselves. Mainly the conversation was on who may be in what house, but Albus also heard something about the legendary Battle of Hogwarts. He turned to see a fair haired young girl talking away to a boy who looked positively gobsmacked at what he was hearing. Albus turned again to see a small man making his way towards them. He realised however, small was an understatement. This man was tiny, but he knew exactly who it was. Filius Flitwick had been the charms teacher for years, even before Albus's own father had attended. An international duelling champion, Flitwick was a fountain of knowledge for those courteous enough to endeavour him. He gave a small cough and everyone looked at him.

"It is time for you…to be sorted."


End file.
